PINELLAS PARK – Sally Zeh has stepped down from her role as executive director of PACE Pinellas following 14 years of service. Lynn Mattiace has been named to replace her.

“Everyone involved with PACE would like to thank Sally for her extraordinary leadership, her commitment to the mission of the PACE Center for Girls and for all she has done for girls in Pinellas County over the past fourteen years.” states Mary Marx, president/CEO of PACE Center for Girls. “Sally truly believes in the girls she serves and in the Pinellas community and had the right heart for this work. She has left a legacy of hope, love and change for PACE girls, past and present, and we are sincerely grateful for all she has done. She will be deeply missed.”

Reflecting on her 14 years with PACE, Sally Zeh said, “It has been a labor of love and I am grateful to have had this opportunity. From the hardworking and dedicated staff … to the resilient and amazing girls we serve, I loved this job. It is hard not to fall in love with what is being done here. What is wonderful is that the staff, local board of directors and the state office are all on the same page with the philosophy of putting girls’ needs first. Believing that these are not girls at-risk but girls at-promise.”

She added, “There is a saying here, ‘Once a PACE girl, always a PACE girl’ … which I believe rings true not with just the girls served but with those who served them at PACE, as well.”

Mattiace comes to PACE with extensive experience in education, most recently, in higher education, and prior to that, many years in public education with the Pinellas County School Board. She created and implemented a district-wide substance abuse intervention and prevention program for students in Pinellas County utilizing the FACE IT curriculum, which is just one of many youth-serving programs she has had a key role in or has led in partnership with the Pinellas County School Board.

”This is where my heart is, where my focus is … working with kids in need,” Mattiace said. “PACE has a stellar reputation ... this wonderful reputation of literally changing girls’ lives by providing them with resources they need to be successful in life. I am thrilled and honored to be a part of this organization and look forward to working with community partners and with the schools as partners to make lives of girls and their families better.”

The PACE model provides comprehensive mental health and social services, academic services with daily middle school and high school academic instruction, development of school-to-work readiness skills and transition services and follow-up. PACE is recognized as the most effective program in the nation for keeping girls out of the juvenile justice system and helping them find success in school, at home and in the community.

PACE Center for Girls, Inc., is a Florida-based, not-for-profit, 501(c) 3 and the only statewide prevention program for adolescent at-risk girls in the nation. PACE’s mission is to provide girls and young women an opportunity for a better future through education, counseling, training and advocacy. PACE values all girls, believing each one deserves an opportunity to find her voice, achieve her potential and celebrate a life defined by responsibility, dignity, serenity and grace.